Mock trial competition comes to Des Moines

Hundreds of the country’s top wanna-be lawyers are meeting in Des Moines tonight for the National Mock Trial Tournament. Five Iowa institutions are fielding teams in the competition. Kyle Kaiser is a senior at Drake University who will be playing a double-role in the mock murder case.Kaiser is from Red Oak. He’s going to act as a prosecutor for part of the mock trial competition and will be the accused killer in another section. He explains the set-up for the fictional slaying.Young Perry Masons and Ally McBeals are in Des Moines from 200 colleges and universities across the U-S, forming 365 teams. In addition to Drake, Iowa will also be represented by teams from: the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, Buena Vista University and Loras College. Kaiser says the mock trial competition is teriffic experience for future lawyers.This is the 16th year the competition has been held in Iowa’s capital city. Volunteer jurors are needed for the cases at the Polk County Courthouse and at Drake University. Trials will run tonight from 7 to 10 p-m, tomorrow from 8:30 a-m to 5 p-m and Sunday from 8:30 a-m until 6 p-m.